Before 2011 came to an end, the Academy Awards released a thirty-nine-song shortlist of prospective nominees for Best Original Song. In the end, however, only two made the final cut: Man or Muppet by Brett McKenzie for The Muppets, and Real in Rio by Sergio Mendez, Carlinhos Brown and Siedah Garrett for the movie Rio.

Now, we here at OurStage understand that there are certain unspoken rules to being nominated for an Oscar; that no matter how good a song or how talented the composer, there will always be certain considerations that are out of the artist’s control. Because as different as this year’s contenders are, there must be something they have in common¦right? So how were the songs chosen? We think we may have a few ideas¦